CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EPIPELAGIC ECOSYST EMS IN THE PACIFIC-OCEAN ONA BASIS OF THE SATELLITE AND MEASURED DATA - PRIMARY PRODUCTION AND ITS SEASONAL-VARIATIONS

Four maps of chlorophyll ''a'' distribution in the Pacific ocean for e ach climatological season were derived from Global Data Set of the CZC S observations (Nimbus-7). Each map was divided into 6 regions with di fferent pigment content ranging from <0.06 to >1.0 mg/m(3). Based on t he results of 250 in situ measurements of primary production its avera ge values for each recognized region have been determined(singly for t emperatepolar and tropical-subtropical waters). Considering last value s and the areas of the trophic regions during different seasons the an nual production is estimates for the whole Pacific ocean at 45.6 x 10( 9) t C showing little seasonal variability. This phenomenon is caused by two opposing seasonal tendencies in different geographic regions wh ich counteract each other, A sea-sonal cycle of production in temperat e-polar waters is observed with high levels in the spring and the summ er, low levels in the winter. By contrast, in tropical-subtropical wat ers low levels of production and maximum areas of oligotrophic cycloni c gyres occur in the summer, opposite values of these two parameters a re observes in the winter.